Urist noted his pots of flour at the bank and took a walk to Drorkar's. He got as far as the bridge at the Barbarian Village when an unusual sight intrigued him. His order was being delivered, but the cart had broken down and was now on the bank facing the bridge. A wheel had come off causing the opposite wheel to be wonky and the bar attaching the two wheels had bent a little. Either the bar needs to be hammered straight again, or completely replaced.
Urist made his way to the cart where Lakki had returned from talking to a barbarian.
"Looks like the bar needs hammering out as a temporary fix, but it will need replacing soon."
"It's needed to be replaced for a while now, I keep telling Drorkar but he doesn't listen."
"Ok, I'll hammer it out to get you to Sani's smithy. I'll speak to Drorkar later." The pair pulled and twisted the bar out of the wheel hole and lay it flat on the ground. Urist spent a good hour hammering it back into shape. It wasn't completely straight, but it would do. They leaned the second wheel against the cart and had a couple of barbarians lift the cart into place whilst they worked the bar back into place. It wasn't an easy fit, but after some wriggling, it worked. Lakki started his journey east and Urist westward.
At Drorkar's, Urist passed over the note.
"Two hundred pots, that's two thousand four hundred coins." Urist nodded.
"Lakki's cart broke down at the Barbarian Village. I've temporarily fixed it but the part needs replacing. It's made me a little concerned though, as I need the ore delivering on time to make sure I can fulfill the orders in a timely manner."
"I understand. There is a quicker way to deliver between Varrock and Keldagrim. At the north western corner of the Grand Exchange, there's a trapdoor for people and a mechanical lift for products. A winch pulls a wooden lift up and down. At the bottom, a mine cart transports people and products between the Exchange and Keldagrim. It would also speed up the transport of the flour too."
"Thank you. I'll start using that. Will the ore be transported that way too?"
"It can do, if you want it to."
"Please."
"I'll organise it to be transported that way with the next order." Urist nodded and returned home. He just made it to Sani's smithy when Rovin appeared with the barracks captain by his side.
"We're here to escort you to the king." Rovin introduced. Urist nodded and followed. Instead of heading north at the fountain, they headed south. At the gate, they turned east and made their way to the front of the barracks. Urist was pleased to see it finished.
The bricks were a different colour to the stone wall, but it was an acceptable contrast. The stables looked beautiful at the front of it all, with the archery range being a nice companion. Archery targets were being attached to trees opposite too. The whole barracks looked grand and mighty in itself, before any guards even appeared from them.
King Roald was sat on a horse, with a company of ten guards surrounding him. He watched Urist as he arrived and observed the barracks.
"It's beautiful," Roald called to him.
"It is, your majesty." Roald nodded at a guard nearby, who stepped forward with a couple of money pouches and a couple of large rolled up pieces of parchments, and passed them to Urist. "Thank you, your majesty. Whilst we're here, I was wondering if I could make a request."
"Certainly."
"I was hoping to have the service of your guards to produce bricks for this building." He waved the parchment.
"I see no harm with that proposal. Rovin?"
"It would aid in our guard's training regime's. Drop the number of bricks you require to the barracks and the men'll get onto it as soon as you do."
"Thank you. It's a great help." Urist waited, continuing to examine the barracks, until the royal escort started to make their way back to the palace. Urist followed them and made his way to the ruins. He calculated how many bricks he needed, 4600 in total - eight hundred of them to build a first floor, eight hundred for each of the walls of the first floor and five hundred for the roof. The rest were for repairs, and after dropping the parchments off at his house, told the barracks captain of this figure.
At Sani's, Urist merged the various money pouches into his normal money pouch. The money for the order had previously been left at Sani's so he could pay when the order arrived. He now had fourteen thousand, two hundred and eighty-six coins. He worked out that the ore for another two orders would come to eleven thousand, eight hundred and eighty coins after the discount for the flour.
Urist wrote out the order and sent it to Drorkar. He started on smelting the bars. It took him the rest of the afternoon, all evening and until a couple of hours before midnight for him to smelt forty iron bars, forty steel bars, and forty mithril bars. The desk provided adequate comfort to sleep for the night and around six in the morning, when the smell of food being cooked wafted through the air, Urist arose and started hammering away. Sani appeared two hours later and started hammering next to him. His aim for the day was to hammer twenty scimitar's out of each metal.
Hours of toiling and sweating, with no food and the occasional cup of tea, come half way between midday and midnight, Urist had a couple of bank clerks help carry the boxes of scimitar's to the bank for him. They were noted and Urist took the notes to Hofuthand. Cautiously, he walked over and made the two orders go live again. They were for Zeke's Superior Scimitars in Al Kharid and the Smithing Smith Shop in Mos Le'Harmless.
He waved Urist over, who followed the usual process, and sold the scimitars. The cashier paid him twenty-two thousand coins and Urist gave the paperwork to Hofuthand.
A few days later, he thought he'd look over the ruins again and when he arrived, he was rather quite stunned. There were two piles of bricks. He quickly did some arithmetic and the piles were all the bricks he required.
Urist jogged over to the barracks and after asking a few guards, he met the captain.
"Thank you for having those bricks made for me. I've just seen them by the ruins."
"Yes, we were going to inform you today. Would you like any help with the renovations?"
"Only if you have the men spare."
"How many do you need?"
"Enough to remove a wooden floor."
"I'll send you four then." The captain called over four guards and told them to follow Urist. First, they needed to repair the ruins up to first-floor height. This was quickly achieved and they moved onto building the brick floor. Urist spent the next day helping them to make it and at the end of the day, he asked them to return in three days. They returned and started building the first floor walls.
The group started eating their lunch at midday and talking about life in Varrock when Sani appeared. Urist walked over to him and the spoke at the back of the building.
"Is everything alright?" Urist asked.
"Yes, great rather. I've come to tell you that the ore has arrived and I had Charlie bring it to the smithy for you."
"Thank you."
"So this is your new place?"
"It is. I'm just renovating it. Going to turn into a house for Charlie."
"Sounds like a good idea. Let me know when it's finished and I'll come and have a look."
"I will do." Sani nodded smiling and left. Urist returned to the lunch break. It took just over an hour to remove the last of the wood and the guards were in no rush to return to the barracks, so they helped him repair the walls.
The sun was close to the horizon by the time they had finished. They spent a further day building the roof and a stairway to the first floor on the outside of the building.
At the end of the project, the guards waved farewell and Urist visited the smithy. Sani had about an hour before he packed in for the day. Urist started smelting and made thirty iron bars, thirty steel bars, and thirty mithril bars. He hammered out ten bars of each metal into hatchets before drossiness rendered his eyes useless for high detailed work. He slept on the desk again.
The following morning, Sani woke him up and after a cup of tea, the pair got to hammering. Urist made ten iron scimitar's, ten steel scimitars and ten mithril scimitars. Around lunch time, he headed to the Grand Exchange to sell them. He looked all around but couldn't find Hofuthand. He asked the other agents but they all said he hadn't turned up for work that day.
Urist made his way to the smithy, quite concerned and wondering what had happened, and when he arrived, was quite surprised by two guards stood at the door opposite the bank.
"What's happening here?" Urist asked.
"Urist? Urist Loric?"
"Aye, 'tis me."
"Could you follow us, please?" Urist nodded and followed them. They escorted him to the palace and into the study, where Roald was leaning against his desk. He signalled to Urist to take a seat and the guards left to guard the doorway.
"What's happening?" Urist asked.
"I have a few questions for you, I trust you will answer them honestly."
"Of course."
"Do you know Hofuthand?"
"I do, he's an agent of the Exchange.
"How well do you know him?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is he a friend? A close friend? A business partner?"
"Out of the three; a business partner. But I guess a lot of people would say the same with his line of work."
"Could you empty your pocket, please?"
Sugar! The list of orders.
Urist did as he was asked, handing over his money pouch, which the king peeped into. He handed over a needle and thread, a very small sweet sized piece of coal and the list of orders. The king disregarded everything but the list, scrutinising it's every word.
"Do you know what this is?"
"I do. It's a list of buy orders for weapons and armour currently on the Exchange."
"And are you're aware that by having this, you're breaking several laws surrounding the Exchange?"
"I didn't realise it was that extreme, but I knew it was against the rules in some way."
"Thank you for your honesty." The king got up, walked around his desk and sat in his chair. He sat there for a few minutes thinking. "I have three conditions for your freedom. First, I have some buildings you will build for me. You will build a very small bank where the current deposit box is by the portal on the Lumbridge to Draynor road. It will only house one cashier, but the basement must be extensive enough to house, I'm forecasting, a lot of wheat, flour, and clay. Next, you will build a stone wall around the grassed area opposite the wheat farm at the mill near to Beefy Bill to leave just the path spare. The walled are will be turned into another wheat patch." Urist nodded. "Then you will demolish the eastern wall of the large wheat farm by Draynor and extend the field right up to the portal, leaving only the path accessible. And you will build a building suitable for salting fish by the Barbarian Village, the bridge next to Seth's farm in Lumbridge, and on the bank by the grave site in Lumbridge. We will be having people fishing in those areas and require a method of preserving the fish." Urist waited for a few moments to make sure the king had finished with his building requests.
"What is the second request, your majesty?"
"That you will be the kingdom's architect." Urist was taken aback.
"What does the role involve, your majesty?"
"Most of the time, not a lot. Some of the time, quite a lot. Mostly during war, you will be required to journey with my camp and advise on the destruction and, or, repair or rebuilding of buildings. Outside of war, you may advise on new buildings for the kingdom."
"Your majesty, forgive me, but won't that be a conflict during peacetime as I may propose buildings for the sake of promoting myself gaining a construction project."
"I'm a good judge of character and you have demonstrated you are honest. I trust you will only propose buildings that are needed. Besides, I am in no way obligated to accept your proposals, I am the king after all."
"What is the third condition?"
"I will have some gold and silver ore entering the city soon, along with some other ores. You will smelt them for me for free." Urist nodded.
"I will only accept your offer, if you reinstate Hofuthand and allow me to fulfill these orders."